The invention relates to a sharpener for a writing stick, particularly for a cosmetic stick having a soft interior, wherein the sharpener includes a blade supporting body placed on the stick and a chip collecting cap removably secured to the blade supporting body. The sharpener thus forms a protective cap for the stick and permits the stick to be sharpened by relative rotation of the stick with the blade supporting body, with the chips being deposited in the chip collecting cap.
A sharpener of the above-mentioned type for cosmetic sticks is disclosed in German Offenlegungsschrift No. 2,953,022, which when in the attached position, protects the stick which is generally soft and therefore very susceptible to breaking. To be sharpened, the stick need only be rotated in the sharpener that has been placed onto its tip. The sharpening waste created thereby is collected within the attached chip collecting cap without being able to soil, for example, a pocketbook, cosmetic case or the like. The chip collecting cap is here essentially designed as a hollow cylinder with a closed end which surrounds the blade side of the sharpener so as not to project too far in a direction radial to the axis of the sharpener or stick, respectively, and thus take up the smallest possible space in the pocketbook or the like. The term cosmetic sticks is here understood to generally mean sticks having a greasy, sometimes sticky interior and a wood or plastic casing.
Because of the desirable small volume of the known attachable sharpener with chip collecting cap, the chip collecting volume of the latter is limited. After a few sharpening processes, the sharpening waste must be removed from the chip collecting cap which, however, experience has shown, is often not done due to inattention. The clogging of the chip collecting cap with sharpening waste is often noted only when the sharpener exhibits an increasing inability to function, i.e. no longer furnishes a satisfactory sharpening result. The observed inattention is furthered by the fact that for aesthetic reasons, the chip collecting cap is frequently not made of a transparent or translucent material. Rather, for aesthetic reasons, such caps are usually made either of sheet metal or plastic with a metallized, e.g. gold or silver colored, surface.
Once the elongate, particularly hollow cylinder shaped sleeve, which has a comparatively small diameter, has become clogged with the soft, sticky mass of the stick interior or with wood chips penetrated with such stick material, it is practically impossible to remove the sharpening waste without the aid of a cleaning instrument. In any case, due to the soft, viscous consistency of the interiors of cosmetic sticks, it cannot be expected with certainty, even if the chip collecting cap is filled loosely, that shaking of the removed cap will suffice to remove, without the aid of an instrument, the sharpening waste adhering--albeit only in part--to the walls of the chip collecting cap. The conical shape of the end of the sharpener facing the chip collecting cap even enhances the above-described plugging or clogging of the chip collecting cap.